mathonwy wrote:Our 4th line is fucking irritating as hell to play against.

A 4th line would have been nice in the playoffs last year. When Malhotra got injured it killed the 4th line. Now with Pahlsson, LaPierre, Malhotra and Reinprecht they can withstand an injury or two to the bottom 6 centers.

Pahlsson plays very high in the offensive zone...part of what makes him a good defensive player. He'll need to come in a few more feet to contribute to the offense

BUt in the defensive zone Pahlsson is always in the proper position it seems to me. Looking a lot faster this game than last as well.

Last edited by tantalum on Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Good post Blob, although to paraphrase a joke someone cracked on here we may not get enough man advantages for the second unit to matter.

People rag on Mason Raymond a lot during his dry spells which may or may not be fair, but tonight he is turning the puck over in the neutral zone - I've noticed a couple times already (missed the first half of the game) it's let the Blues turn the play around and set up shop again in the Canucks zone.

On Pahlsson, he seems to at least have enough skill to contribute to the cycle down low.. I don't know if AV expects much more than that out of his fourth line. I'm sure he'll try a few more combinations in the next ten games though.

I can't remember the last time we've had a player of Kassian's skill with the mean streak (and size) to match. I guess there is Bieksa on defense and the last forward would be... is there anyone since Bertuzzi?

tantalum wrote:Kassian seems to have made LaPierre play bigger these two games and LaPIerre has the size to do so.

On Pahlsson...I actually like his game tonight. THey've had 2 or 3 shifts completely in the Blues zone. Lesser disciplined teams will give up goals even to Pahlsson in the same situation.

Kassian has plyed well again. He has good hockey sense, knows where to go and good wheels and hands for a big man.

I like Pahlsson too but he seems to have little to no offensive instincts. I will try to remain patient though.

Patient for what?

Patient to see any creativity out of Pahlsson. It's great that the line is awesome defensively but if he puts up zero offense moving forward into the playoffs, perhaps Lappy should get a look on the third line.